*Old me* “Its Friday. Time to step on the scale. I really hope I lost weight.” I would proceed to step on the scale every week, only to see the number up one week and down another. The scale can become addicting.

This addiction to the scale is why I stopped. For a while, I was weighing myself every couple of days, but what I didn’t understand was that weight loss didn’t occur that quickly.

Now, I weight myself once every couple of months. I no longer obsess over numbers, and I don’t focus on the number either. When you focus on the number on the scale, you stress yourself out and your mind holds onto that number, which halts your weight loss. In my opinion, when you are more focused on getting healthy and building a better YOU, your body is better able to let go of the fat.

I also love taking measurements, because they can truly prove if youre shrinking or not! In one month, I was able to lose 10.2 inches from all over my body. It was so encouraging and amazing to see that number. To me, the inches are far more rewarding than my weight.

After almost 2 1/2 weeks of having zero food in my fridge, I finally made the trip today! I got everything I needed to hold me over the next couple of weeks – proteins, veggies, lots of fruit, yogurt, and some yummy bars for a quick snack! If you want to be more aware of the foods you are buying, start looking at the nutrition labels! The yogurt I buy? low carb. Almond milk? I buy the one with the least amount of sugar. The carbs will add up quickly and will completely impede your weight loss. Have I cut carbs completely from my diet? No. I eat complex carbs – unflavored oatmeal, whole wheat toast, rice cakes, brown rice, and whole grain pasta … those are honestly the only sources of carbs in my kitchen. The 21 Day Fix focuses more on getting in more protein and vegetables into your diet. The carbs in my daily diet serve as sources of energy rather than to fill me up.

Let’s start with the tip shelf! (Keep in mind too that some of this stuff is my roommates!):

CarbMaster yogurt. This stuff is magical. One, its flavored BUT low in sugar and they have only 5 grams of carbs (compared to other flavored yogurt that can have close to 20). I like vanilla and the black forest cake!

Second Shelf: Eggs (I eat these for breakfast about every other day), Jenny O turkey bacon, humus (which goes really great with carrots), thin sliced chicken breast fillets (they were on sale for buy 1 get 2 free), blueberries, and blackberries (which were on sale for 87 cents!)

Third shelf: Nature’s Own 100% whole wheat bread, pepper crusted chicken breast from the deli, a giant bag of broccoli and a giant bag of spinach (my roommate and I share these bags since they’re so huge!)

In the drawers I have my Italian blend salad mix, packets of baby carrots, zucchini, apples, and grapes! I also bought some frozen strawberries so I can throw them into my smoothies! I also bought a Cashew Cookie Lara bar. I love this brand of bars because their ingredients are all natural and they’re pretty filling too! Plus the flavors are sweet, so they help with my sweet tooth 🙂

Also, since I have an obsession with chai’s, I bought a sugar-free blend and then some half and half! I can’t wait to try it out and see how it tastes over some ice! The regular chai blend had 20 grams of carbs.. and with trying to watch my weight carbs are not my friends.. and I would rather eat real food than waste my carbs for the day on a chai. All of these came to only 50 bucks : ) If the prices are too high – do not buy! You will waste so much money on expensive items and it will add up very quickly!

I hope this gives you an idea of what to get when doing your shopping! : ) If you have any questions just comment down below and I’ll get back to you!

Day 1 compared to yesterday. Day 1 consisted of three meals while day 2 consisted of 5 and a lot of water.

Yesterday I worked in the morning and I failed to eat breakfast before heading in. Working at a pretzel place has made it very tempting… and man did I give in to my cravings. I was so hungry. I had a cup of the mini pretzel dogs (aka pigs in a blanket) as well as a few pieces of the pizza bites. I didn’t eat any more carbs the rest of my day because I knew I already ate too much in my morning – only plus side was that I was eating in small amounts every 2 hours. By the time I was off at 1230 (which was when I ate the mini pretzel dogs), I was full and didn’t really want to eat anymore more. I didn’t eat again until about 4. I went to Sweet Tomatoes for dinner with Scott. I had 2 salads (spring mix, tomato, carrots, peas, egg, balsamic vinaigrette, cheddar cheese, and black olives), the broccoli mix they have, some chili, and some chicken breast (I dump out all of the noodles and eat just the chicken!). I was so hungry! But I refrained from eating any carbs! Broken down I had probably 3 green containers, 2 red, and 1 blue.

After my workout (upper body) I had a delicious chocolate protein shake (chocolate protein, some unsweetened vanilla almond milk, natural PB, and a purple container of grapes). My shoulders and chest are pretty sore today – and I love being sore, because that’s how I know my body is changing 🙂

Even though I started my day off on the wrong track, I adjusted accordingly for the rest of my day, and I think my body loved the fact I carb loaded in the morning because it was able to burn through it the rest of the day! I ate so much, and yet, even though both pictures were taken around the same time, my stomach looked so much smaller!! It’s seriously crazy how clean eating can cleanse your body.

Today was the first day of my November fitness challenge, and I am not going to lie, I struggled to finish my workout today. It was so intense and I honestly felt like puking… but I still got it done. My meals today were really good, and I actually did pretty good except for the overload of carbs. I sadly do not have the opportunity to pack my lunch for my community clinicals since there is no fridge, so they provide lunch. Today was Cordon Blu with rice and chili… it was really good but I definitely should not have eaten all that rice or chili (I try to stay away from ground beef since it’s super fatty and I’m pretty sure there was a lot in the chili). Here is what I had today for my meals:

Breakfast:

1 egg, 1 piece of whole wheat toast with natural peanut butter

Lunch:

Cordon Blu, rice pilaf, side salad, chili

Sugar free vanilla iced coffee with light cream (grande) (note: i am never drinking coffee again. I got so jittery after this coffee and I honestly felt like I was going to pass out… not to mention I blew up like a balloon and felt sick to my stomach.. I think I’ll stick with chais).

Dinner:

chicken breast topped with marina with a side of sliced tomato topped with balsamic vinaigrette and mozzarella cheese

Snack:

grapes

I am still currently working on my clean eating guide, and it’s turning out pretty good so far! Scott and I were not able to see each other today, so I am very happy that we were able to spend practically all day together yesterday. For Halloween we dressed up like nerds. It was pretty hilarious. I’ll write more about it in another post. If you need any healthy eating tips let me know!

My next fitness challenge starts November 1, and I must say I am pretty excited about it. It has been a while since I have done any of the workouts using my at home program. During my September fitness challenge I managed to lose 10.2 inches. I was super committed, super motivated, and I was loving how visible my results were!

What is a fitness challenge?

Well, it’s basically a way to stay motivated, stay accountable, and have a support group when on your fitness journey. There’s an app that all my challengers get access to when they join where they can log all of their progress, it’s really cool because at the end of the fitness challenge you can view your starting pictures and your starting measurements. I truly like these challenges because the workouts are challenging and I love seeing the other girls in my challenges get active and log their progress. I am hoping that with this challenge that I stay on track. Last month I struggled to really stick to it as I was losing the motivation. Hopefully this round I am much more motivated and pumped about it.